Ian Coss
@iancoss.bsky.social
430 followers 84 following 110 posts
Creator of podcasts: The Big Dig, Forever is a Long Time, NEWTS!, Movement with Meklit Hadero
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iancoss.bsky.social
In a seasons collide moment: Carmen DeNunzio was forced out of the numbers racket by the state lottery, only to get busted on a bribe for a Big Dig contract. DeNunzio died this week at 68 -- 'the last nice wise guy' in Boston -- lovely obit by Kevin Cullen.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/25/m...
Requiem for the last nice wiseguy - The Boston Globe
Carmen DiNunzio ran the Mafia in Boston as it, and his health, declined.
www.bostonglobe.com
iancoss.bsky.social
"We're Doing the Wiz" is coming home to Western MA -- Saturday Oct 4 at @nepublicmedia.bsky.social in Springfield. Sakina and I will be there w behind the scenes details, special guests, and of course...live music. Tickets & details:

www.nepm.org/nepm-events/...
We're Doing The Wiz Live!
Go behind the podcast that tells the story of the PVPA musical no one saw coming on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m at NEPM Studios in Springfield.
www.nepm.org
iancoss.bsky.social
Join me at the @museumofscience.bsky.social next week for a live show in the Mugar Omni theatre -- the only show to use that space without using the screen! It’s audio only, with the room blacked out, in 5.1 sorooooouuuuuund. And come get ice cream at Toscanini's after...
www.mos.org/events/subsp...
Obscured Vision
Experience a one-of-a-kind blindfolded sensory performance that invites you to rediscover the world through sound. Only in the Mugar Omni Theater!
www.mos.org
iancoss.bsky.social
Feels like so long ago now that 'Scratch & Win' came out, but wow, that too was 2025! If you missed this one, come find out how a mischievous state treasurer and a bottle of Fanta gave the world the first scratch ticket...https://podcasts.apple.com/us/room/6748038412
Best So Far 2025 on Apple Podcasts
Listen to the latest selections from our editors.
podcasts.apple.com
iancoss.bsky.social
Does this mean podcasting is over now?
Reposted by Ian Coss
lilygeismer.bsky.social
Scratch & Win is so good!!
iancoss.bsky.social
I think this is my new litmus test for whether or not someone is an old school Boston pol: how do they pronounce "patronage"?
daschloz.bsky.social
My favorite detail is that Bob Crane and Bill Galvin say "pat-ronage" like St. Patrick's Day while everybody else says "pay-tronage" like payola. Anyway, you don't need to be obsessed with the relationship between liberalism and machine politics to devour it, but if you are, you certainly will.
Reposted by Ian Coss
daschloz.bsky.social
A strong, if belated, recommendation for @iancoss.bsky.social 's podcast Scratch & Win about the rise of the Mass. Lottery. A total joy with a keen sense of how the old politics actually got played. I found myself talking back to the audio in a Boston accent: www.wgbh.org/podcasts/scr...
Scratch & Win
Never in American history has it been so easy to gamble, legally at least. We’ve got casinos, sports betting, online poker, keno — but it was all made possible by state lotteries, which brought gambli...
www.wgbh.org
iancoss.bsky.social
Down in DC doing interviews for a new WGBH series. This one should be interesting.
iancoss.bsky.social
I got the horse right here!
thehorsethread.bsky.social
9. We are duly reminded of the small but obvs important role 🐎 🐎 play in the classic theater production "Guys & Dolls," thanks to host @iancoss.bsky.social's early thespian adventures, described in a new pod from him and Sakina Ibrahim for @radiotopia.bsky.social

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
We're Doing The Wiz 1 - The Tofu Curtain
Podcast Episode · Radiotopia Presents: We're Doing the Wiz · S16 E1 · 39m
podcasts.apple.com
iancoss.bsky.social
And Yale too!
ofsevit.bsky.social
Did you know that the lottery used to fund Harvard @iancoss.bsky.social
iancoss.bsky.social
It's a twofer on the Apple homepage today, get it while you can...
iancoss.bsky.social
The secret is to go to sleep 8 hours every night and walk the dog first thing in the morning. That's when the best thinking happens, for me at least!
iancoss.bsky.social
This show has been blessed with so much support from Radiotopia, PRX, Tribeca Audio, Mass Humanities, and the friends/collaborators who pushed it along, especially my fabulous co-creator and co-host Sakina Ibrahim, and the many folks from our school who shared their stories.
iancoss.bsky.social
This project started when the 2020 racial justice energy was hot, but it feels right to release in this moment. In many ways this show is about the afterword -- after the crisis, after the rallies and big gestures -- what has changed and what has not? Listen, share, and let us know what you think!
iancoss.bsky.social
It's 🚀 Day for "WE'RE DOING THE WIZ": the story of a small-town high school trying to stage an iconic Black musical in the midst of bussing, racial integration, and general theater kid drama. Did I mention it was my high school?

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
We're Doing The Wiz 1 - The Tofu Curtain
Podcast Episode · Radiotopia Presents: We're Doing the Wiz · S16 E1 · 39m
podcasts.apple.com
iancoss.bsky.social
We're doin' it!

Trailer is out. Premiere at Tribeca Fest is today. Episode one next week. Welcome to the world of my performing arts high school. @masshumanities.bsky.social @prx.org
Radiotopia Presents: We're Doing the Wiz
Podcast Episode · Radiotopia Presents: We're Doing the Wiz · S16 Trailer · 3m
podcasts.apple.com
iancoss.bsky.social
Hah, that's amazing. Do you have any idea when it formally
changed over from the NH Sweepstakes to the NH Lottery?
iancoss.bsky.social
"It’s like an entire political science course in one series" -- thanks @debbiejsr.bsky.social, that's exactly what we were going for! Come for the mafia bookies, stay for the tax revolt.
iancoss.bsky.social
Backup Roman Mars, I can live with that
killerlouise.bsky.social
This is only my 2nd post so you know it’s important: I just finished Scratch & Win from @iancoss.bsky.social @gbhnews.bsky.social and it’s great, as was The Big Dig, and now I’m delving into other Coss podcasts. I didn’t know I needed a backup @romanmars.bsky.social but I’m glad to have one.
iancoss.bsky.social
Very cool -- have heard of these but never seen an image. Thanks for sharing!
iancoss.bsky.social
I always welcome story ideas. I've got more of them than I can probably get around to producing, but hopefully I'll be able to keep at this for a while. I recall that story, is there a deeper history there you'd point me towards?
iancoss.bsky.social
It only took 3 years...